We flew into Dar es Salaam, our entry point into Tanzania. We only had the one night, our time cut short by a cancelled flight from Mauritius.

We struggled to find much to do in the city to be honest, perhaps we should have looked harder.

Our flight from Mauritius took us via Nairobi (again) and we managed to get a limited glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro on the plane on our way back south to Zanzibar.

Getting the ferry from Dar es Salaam the next morning was an interesting challenge. It’s quite a chaotic boarding process, with me nervously checking that our luggage was travelling with us, those airtags can cause more worry than relief at times.

However, our two hour ferry crossing was pleasant enough.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania and so there is a passport check required and a mandatory insurance payment to be made.

In the heat and confusion it made for a stressful entrance but we were soon in a taxi to our destination in Nungwi, a beach town in the north of the island.

The beaches here are quite exceptional, although high tide can limit space quite a bit.

The sand is a pale yellow, near white colour, without sunglasses it’s like struggling to see on a sunny day on the ski slopes.

The sand is like ash, a fine soft feel under your feet and the warmth of the Indian Ocean envelopes you like a warm blanket.

The buildings above have the sea crashing underneath them at high tide.

Our hotel advised we download a Tide app as it’s quite common for the unaware to have to head inland to find their way back to where they started.

Low tide reveals lots of rock pools and you can easily spot starfish and octopus caught by the receding tide.

In the picture above a fire is being used to melt sealant being applied to the hull of this boat.

The locals hunt for what they can find to eat or sell at low tide.

It’s a truly exotic african tropical island with bananas growing in places.

We spotted our first Baobab tree, legendary in these parts and we got to see many more on the mainland.

The beaches come alive at sunset with the local people hitting the water.

There are Masai people here too, seen with their traditional cloaks, sticks and machetes.

There is no lack of invention from the beach sellers. Fresh fruits, cashew nuts, football shirts, jewellery and acrobats on the beach!

It took us a day to settle into the hustle and bustle of life here abut before long we were enjoying the vibe and watching the sunsets in the evening.

Our short time here quickly came to an end and we headed to the capital Stone Town to explore the island further.